Ballot fraud jury to weigh six long weeks of words

Michael LoPorto is led Friday into Rensselaer County Court in Troy to face charges of voter fraud. (Skip Dickstein / Times Union)

After six weeks worth of testimony the Rensselaer County ballot fraud trial is in the hands of a jury. Jurors began what could be lengthy deliberations after closing arguments were made Friday.

My colleague Bob Gardinier is in court. You can follow his updates on Twitter at @BobGardinier. His latest tweet: “Jurors ask for supplies like post-it-notes so they are going to get serious. Some speculate days before verdict.”

It’s been 30 months since a small group of Democrats masterminded a plan to forge absentee ballot applications and then cast forged ballots in the Sept. 15, 2009, Working Families Party primary for Troy City Council.

Special Prosecutor Trey Smith claims that McDonough and LoPorto had roles in that plan. Through their attorneys, the two defendants have argued that they had no motive to participate in the effort that involved about 54 ballots.

In his closing remarks Friday, Smith reminded the jurors who received the votes cast on the forged ballots.

“We opened one up for you. They were all voted on a straight line,” Smith said as the ballot was displayed on a screen showing Democrats received all the votes on the Working Families Party primary ballot.

While the case is about allegedly stealing an election, which it turned out the Democrats would win without the forged ballots, the charges are for forgery and possessing the forged elections documents.

The jury begins the trial’s eighth week — previously, there were six weeks of testimony and one week of jury selection — considering the value of testimony and the documents offered by Smith.

The defense attorneys, Brian Premo for McDonough and Michael Feit for LoPorto, called no witnesses.